Communications of the ACM
A Healthy Dose of AI
Building artificial intelligence into medical devices can speed diagnoses and potentially improve treatments and outcomes.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM News
Hacked Molecular Machine Could Pump Out Custom Proteins
By hijacking the cellular machinery that makes proteins, bioengineers have developed a tool that could allow them to better understand protein synthesis, explore...
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Neanderthals Had Outsize Effect on Human Biology
Our ancestors were not a picky bunch.
From ACM News
Vibrant Pluto Stuns Scientists
They are 5 billion kilometres from the Sun in the dim, far-flung outskirts of the Solar System, but Pluto and its large moon Charon turn out to be astonishingly...
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Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Gets a $100-Million Boost
You could say that the silence has been deafening.
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The 24/7 Search For Killer Quakes
At 17 minutes past midnight on Saturday 25 April, Rob Sanders's computer started chiming with alerts.
From ACM News
Pluto Spacecraft Temporarily Loses Contact with Earth
Ten days before its historic flyby of Pluto, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft lost contact with mission control, for unknown reasons, for an hour and 21 minutes on...
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Machine Ethics: The Robot's Dilemma
In his 1942 short story 'Runaround', science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics—engineering safeguards and built-in ethical principles...
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Pluto-Bound Probe Faces Its Toughest Task: Finding Pluto
Some 4.7 billion kilometres from Earth, the New Horizons spacecraft is heading for a historic rendezvous with Pluto. To achieve this, it will need to hit a very...
From ACM News
Intriguing Geology of Ceres Revealed in New Pictures
Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Solar System, is finally getting its close-up. NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived in March, and is now taking photographs from as...
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Europe's First Humans: What Scientists Do and Don't Know
Over the past two years, breakthroughs in ancient genomics and archaeology have revolutionized the story of the first humans in Europe—who are thought to have appeared ...
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Ancient American Genome Rekindles Legal Row
The genome of a famous 8,500-year-old North American skeleton, known as Kennewick Man, shows that he is closely related to Native American tribes that have for...
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The Pentagon's Gamble on Brain Implants, Bionic Limbs and Combat Exoskeletons
When Geoffrey Ling talks about the future of technology, his ideas go flying around the room like a whirlwind.
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Image Software Spots Links in Tattoo Ink
In an unusual twist on biometrics research, US computer scientists have joined with law-enforcement officials to find new ways to automatically detect tattoos on...
From ACM Careers
Crispr, the Disruptor
Three years ago, Bruce Conklin came across a method that made him change the course of his lab.
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Mystery of Black Hole Fireworks Solved
Gigantic jets of gas that leap out of galaxies at nearly the speed of light occur only after two galaxies merge, a survey of the distant Universe shows.
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Military Technology: Laser Weapons Get Real
Silently, the drone aircraft glides above the arid terrain of New Mexico—until it suddenly pivots out of control and plummets to the ground.
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'instinctive' Robot Recovers From Injury Fast
Computer scientists have endowed a six-legged robot with the ability to rapidly modify its motion to cope with damage, such as the loss of a foot.
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Five Factors That Will Decide If Philae Wakes
Ever since the European Space Agency's Philae lander ran out of batteries on 15 November, just three days after it bounced on to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko...
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Pluto-Bound Craft Hunts For Hazardous Moons
On 11 May, a telescope aboard a NASA craft will turn and stare at Pluto—like a space-robot equivalent of a sailor watching for shoals that could take out his vessel...
From ACM Opinion